Plumber: Warm-up is time to watch for frozen pipe issues

Courtesy Madison Water Utility

Plumbers say now is the time to be on the lookout for frozen pipes that will start to thaw and might cause problems.

Korey Ace has been working in plumbing for about 17 years. He and other plumbing repair technicians with Sheldon Plumbing, in Verona, had a busy Wednesday.

News 3 followed along as Ace tackled a job at a condo on Madison's west side.

He said the job started off as a complaint of no hot water. The pipes in the home's utility room were cold to the touch -- something he said is a bad sign.

"This type of weather is not only hard on the plumbers but the plumbing," Ace said.

Ace said now is the time for homeowners to be on the lookout for frozen pipes.

"When things thaw out, then sooner or later that chunk of ice is going to come flying out and water is going to follow it, and that's when the flood damage occurs -- when things warm back up," Ace said.

If you have pipes on an outside wall, try to push some warm air on them, Ace said. If they are frozen, the heat could help residents avoid a break.

"If you have an opportunity to open up the service door to the area and let some heat out in there, it doesn't take very long to thaw things back out if they haven't gone to the extent of freezing so hard the pipes burst," Ace said.

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Plumber: Warm-up is time to watch for frozen pipe issues